Mounting module and antenna apparatus

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a mounting module, an antenna apparatus, and a method of manufacturing a mounting module. The mounting module includes a board; an antenna mounted on a first surface of the board, an RF circuit unit mounted on a second surface of the board, and a feeding line to electrically connect the RF circuit unit and the antenna through the board, thereby reducing a loss of signal power.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a Reissue Application from U.S. Pat. No. 9,923,261issued on Mar. 20, 2018 and filed Jan. 11, 2016, which claims thepriority to, and benefit under 35 USC 119(a) of Korean PatentApplication No. 10-2015-0037317 filed on Mar. 18, 2015, in the KoreanIntellectual Property Office, the entire disclosure disclosures of whichis are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The following description relates to a mounting module, an antennaapparatus, and a method of manufacturing a mounting module.

2. Description of Related Art

Mounting modules having a large capacity have been miniaturized.Therefore, highly integrated RF circuits may be mounted on mountingmodules in order to implement a system in package (SiP) module. RFsignals processed by the RF circuits may be transmitted or receivedthrough an antenna. Therefore, the RF circuits need to be appropriatelyconnected to the antenna.

The RF circuits mounted on existing mounting modules may be connected toan external antenna. In this configuration, the RF circuits and theantenna may be connected to each other by an RF cable or a micro stripline. However, such a connection may increase signal power loss anddeteriorate reflective characteristics.

SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subjectmatter.

In one general aspect, there is provided a mounting module, including aboard, an antenna mounted on a first surface of the board, an RF circuitunit mounted on a second surface of the board, and a feeding line toelectrically connect the RF circuit unit and the antenna through theboard.

The antenna may include at least one of a dipole antenna, a monopoleantenna, or a patch antenna.

The patch antenna may be closer to a center of the first surface than atleast one of the dipole antenna and the monopole antenna.

The mounting module may include an interlayer antenna disposed in theinterior of the board.

The mounting module may include a via antenna disposed adjacent to aside surface of the board.

The via antenna may be perpendicular to the first surface.

The via antenna may be implemented in consideration of at least one of afrequency, a wavelength, or an interlayer thickness of a Printed CircuitBoard (PCB).

The mounting module may include a frame disposed on the second surfaceof the board to enclose the RF circuit unit, and an area of the boardenclosed by the frame may be filled with an epoxy molding compound (EMC)resin.

In another general aspect, there is provided an antenna apparatus,including a radiator disposed on a first surface of a board to transmitor receive an RF signal, and a feeder configured to receive the RFsignal through a second surface of the board and to transmit the RFsignal to the radiator.

The radiator may include at least two of a first radiator disposed in acenter of the first surface, a second radiator disposed in an edge ofthe first surface, a third radiator disposed in an interlayer of theboard, and a fourth radiator disposed adjacent to a side surface of theboard.

The at least two of the first radiator, the second radiator, the thirdradiator, and the fourth radiator may be spaced apart from each other ata preset interval, and a radiation pattern direction of the radiator maybe determined based on the preset interval.

The feeder may include at least one via to electrically connectinterlayers of the board to each other.

The antenna feeder may be made of a conductive metals including any oneor any combination of copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), aluminum (Al), silver(Ag), or gold (Au).

Other features and aspects will be apparent from the following detaileddescription, the drawings, and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is diagram illustrating an example of a mounting module.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an upper surface of themounting module.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a frame included in themounting module.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a lower surface of themounting module.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of an antenna apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of insertion loss of themounting module.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example a method of manufacturing amounting module.

Throughout the drawings and the detailed description, unless otherwisedescribed or provided, the same drawing reference numerals refer to thesame elements, features, and structures. The drawings may not be toscale, and the relative size, proportions, and depiction of elements inthe drawings may be exaggerated for clarity, illustration, andconvenience.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description is provided to assist the reader ingaining a comprehensive understanding of the methods, apparatuses,and/or systems described herein. However, various changes,modifications, and equivalents of the systems, apparatuses and/ormethods described herein will be apparent to one of ordinary skill inthe art. The progression of processing steps and/or operations isdescribed as an example; the sequence of operations is not limited tothat set forth herein and may be changed as is known in the art, withthe exception of steps and/or operations that necessarily occur in acertain order. Also, descriptions of functions and constructions thatare well known to one of ordinary skill in the art may be omitted forincreased clarity and conciseness.

The features described herein may be embodied in different forms, andare not to be construed as being limited to the examples describedherein. Rather, the examples described herein have been provided so thatthis disclosure is thorough, complete, and conveys the full scope of thedisclosure to one of ordinary skill in the art.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a mounting module.

Referring to FIG. 1, a mounting module 100 may include a board 110, anantenna 120, an RF circuit unit 130, and a feeding line 140.

The board 110 may be provided with a mounting electrode. Two surfaces ofthe board 110 may be parallel with each other. In an example, the board110 may comprise any one of a ceramic board, a printed circuit board(PCB), or a flexible board.

The antenna 120 may be mounted on one surface (e.g., a first layer) ofthe board 110. One surface of the board 110 does not refer to only anupper surface of the board 110 in a cross-sectional view. In oneexample, the antenna 120 may be mounted on the upper surface of theboard 110. In another example, the antenna 120 may be mounted on a sidesurface of the board 110 to be parallel to the side surface. In anotherexample, the antenna 120 may be mounted on a side surface of the board110 to be perpendicular to the side surface. Therefore, the mountingmodule 100 may precisely control a radiation pattern direction of an RFsignal in three dimensions based on the mounting of the antenna 120.

The antenna 120 may include an interlayer antenna 124, which is formedin an inner layer (e.g., a second layer) of the board 110. In anexample, the interlayer antenna 124 may be disposed in parallel with theboard 110 on the side surface of the board 110 when viewed in across-sectional view. In the cross-sectional view, since a horizontallength of the side surface of the board is longer than a vertical lengththereof, the interlayer antenna 124 may be implemented in a dipoleantenna form.

For example, the antenna 120 may include a via antenna 125 which isformed in a region of the interior of the board adjacent to the sidesurface of the board 110. In an example, the via antenna 125 may bedisposed to be perpendicular to the board 110 in the region of the boardadjacent to the side of the board 110 when viewed from a cross-sectionalview. The via antenna 125 may be implemented as at least one via stackin consideration of criteria such as, for example, a frequency,wavelength or an interlayer thickness of a Printed Circuit Board (PCB).

When viewed in a cross-sectional view, a horizontal length of the sidesurface of the board is shorter than a vertical length, the via antenna125 may be implemented in a monopole antenna form. For example, the viaantenna 125 may be implemented in the monopole antenna form in which twovias are connected to each other in series, as illustrated in FIG. 1.

The antenna 120 may radiate or receive an RF signal in a millimeter waveband according to a design of the mounting module 100. The wavelength ofthe RF signal in the millimeter wave band is short, and therefore theantenna 120 may be miniaturized.

An RF circuit unit 130 may be mounted on the other surface of the board110 by the mounting electrode. The RF circuit unit 130 may be mounted ona surface of the board 110 on which the antenna 120 is not disposed. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the RF circuit unit 130 may bemounted on a lower surface of the board 110. A detailed example of theRF circuit unit 130 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3and 4.

The feeding line 140 may electrically connect the RF circuit unit 130and the antenna 120 through the board 110. In an example, the feedingline 140 may be formed in the board 110 and may be formed of conductivemetals such as, for example, copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), aluminum (Al),silver (Ag), and gold (Au).

A distance between the RF circuit unit 130 and the antenna 120 may berelatively shorter than that between the existing RF circuit unit and anexternal antenna. Therefore, the mounting module 100 may reduce a lossof signal power and reduce deterioration in reflective characteristicsdue to the connection between the antenna 120 and the RF circuit unit130.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an upper surface of themounting module.

Referring to FIG. 2, the antenna included in the mounting module mayinclude at least one of a dipole antenna 121, a monopole antenna 122, ora patch antenna 123.

The dipole antenna 121 and the monopole antenna 122 may be close to anedge of the upper surface of the mounting module. The dipole antenna 121and the monopole antenna 122 may transmit or receive an RF signal in alateral direction of the mounting module.

The patch antenna 123 may be close to a center of the upper surface ofthe mounting module. The patch antenna 123 may transmit or receive an RFsignal in an upward direction of the mounting module. The patch antenna123 may be in a shape, such as, for example, polygonal, and circule.

For example, the antenna 120 may include at least one of the dipoleantenna 121, the monopole antenna 122, and the patch antenna 123.Therefore, the antenna 120 may transmit or receive an RF signal in aninclined direction from the upward direction of the mounting moduletoward the lateral direction.

In an example, a radiation pattern direction of the RF signal may becontrolled according to an interval between at least one of the dipoleantenna 121 and the monopole antenna 122 and the patch antenna 123. Inanother example, a radiation pattern direction of the RF signal may becontrolled according to a ratio of the number of at least one of thedipole antennas 121 and the monopole antennas 122 to the number of patchantennas 123. In yet another example, a radiation pattern direction ofthe RF signal may be controlled according to a combination of theabove-described interval and the above-described ratio.

For example, as the dipole antenna 121 and the monopole antenna 122 areclose to the patch antenna 123, the radiation pattern direction of theRF signal may approach the upward direction of the mounting module.

For example, when the total number of dipole antennas 121 and monopoleantennas 122 is more than the number of patch antennas 123, theradiation pattern direction of the RF signal may approach the lateraldirection of the mounting module.

Further, the radiation pattern direction of the RF signal may becontrolled, according to positions or directions of the dipole antenna121 and the monopole antenna 122. That is, the mounting module 100 mayprecisely control the radiation pattern direction of the RF signal inthree dimensions.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a frame included in themounting module. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of thelower surface of the mounting module. Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, themounting module 100 may further include a frame 150. The frame 150 maybe disposed on the other surface of the board 110 to enclose the RFcircuit unit 130. An area of the board enclosed by the frame 150 may befilled with an epoxy molding compound (EMC) resin 160 forelectromagnetic wave shielding.

For example, the RF circuit unit 130 may include components, such as,for example, multiplexed analog components (MAC) and a base band signalprocessing circuit. To protect the RF circuit unit 130 from beingphysically damaged, the frame 150 may be disposed on the other surfaceof the board 110. A height of the frame 150 may be greater than that ofthe RF circuit unit 130.

A lower end of the frame 150 may be provided with a plurality of solderballs 180 to easily mount the mounting module 100 in devices, such as,for example, mobile terminals, laptop PCs, and TVs.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the antenna apparatus.Some of the components shown in FIG. 5 have been described withreference to FIGS. 1-4. The above description of FIGS. 1-4, is alsoapplicable to FIG. 5, and is incorporated herein by reference. Thus, theabove description may not be repeated here.

Referring to FIG. 5, the antenna apparatus 200 may include a radiator210 and a feeder 220.

The radiator 210 may be disposed on one surface of the board to transmitor receive the RF signal. For example, the radiator 210 may include atleast two of first to fourth radiators 211 to 214. Therefore, theantenna apparatus 200 may precisely control the radiation patterndirection of the RF signal in three dimensions.

The first radiator 211 may be disposed in a first area including thecenter of one surface of the board. Characteristics of the firstradiator 211 may be similar to those of the patch antenna included inthe mounting module.

The second radiator 212 may be disposed in a second area including anedge of one surface of the board. Characteristics of the second radiator212 may be similar to those of the dipole antenna or the monopoleantenna included in the mounting module.

The third radiator 213 may be disposed in the interior of the board.Characteristics of the third radiator 213 may be similar to those of theinterlayer antenna included in the mounting module.

The fourth radiator 214 may be disposed in a region of the boardadjacent to the side surface of the board. Characteristics of the fourthradiator 214 may be similar to those of a via antenna included in themounting module.

For example, at least two of the first radiator 211, the second radiator212, the third radiator 213, and the fourth radiator 214 may be spacedapart from each other at a preset interval. Therefore, the radiationpattern direction of the radiator 210 may be determined based on thepreset interval.

The feeder 220 may receive the RF signal through the other surface ofthe board and may transmit the RF signal to the radiator 210.

For example, the feeder 220 may include at least one via through which aplurality of interlayers of the board is electrically connected to eachother.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of insertion loss of themounting module. Referring to the graph of FIG. 6, horizontal axisrepresents a frequency of the RF signal and vertical axis represents theinsertion loss of the feeding line. The insertion loss of the antennaapparatus may be equal to or less than 1 dB. Considering that theinsertion loss of 7 dB or higher may occur due to a connection betweenan existing RF circuit and an external antenna, it can be seen that theinsertion loss of the antenna disclosed above is significantly improved.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a method of manufacturinga mounting module. The operations in FIG. 7 may be performed in thesequence and manner as shown, although the order of some operations maybe changed or some of the operations omitted without departing from thespirit and scope of the illustrative examples described. Many of theoperations shown in FIG. 7 may be performed in parallel or concurrently.The above descriptions of FIGS. 1-5, is also applicable to FIG. 7, andis incorporated herein by reference. Thus, the above description may notbe repeated here.

Referring to FIG. 7, the method of manufacturing a mounting module mayinclude mounting an antenna in S10 and mounting a circuit in S20.

In S10, a plurality of antennas may be mounted on one surface of theboard included in the mounting module. The plurality of antennas may bespaced apart from each other at a preset interval to allow the radiationpattern directions of the plurality of antennas to be in presetdirections.

For example, the mounting of the antenna S10 may include at least two ofmounting the first antenna in the first area including the center of onesurface of the board in S11, mounting the second antenna in the secondarea including the edge of one surface of the board in S12, forming thethird antenna in the interlayer of the surface in S13, and forming thefourth antenna in a region of the board adjacent to the side surface ofthe board in S14.

In S20, the RF circuit unit may be mounted on the other surface of theboard included in the mounting module.

As set forth above, the mounting module may reduce the loss of signalpower and deteriorations in reflective characteristics due toconnections between the antenna and the RF circuits. The antennaapparatus may precisely control the radiation patterns in threedimensions. The method of manufacturing a mounting module may includemounting the antenna array having the radiation patterns preciselycontrolled in three dimensions and the RF circuits on the mountingmodule.

While this disclosure includes specific examples, it will be apparent toone of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form anddetails may be made in these examples without departing from the spiritand scope of the claims and their equivalents. The examples describedherein are to be considered in a descriptive sense only, and not forpurposes of limitation. Descriptions of features or aspects in eachexample are to be considered as being applicable to similar features oraspects in other examples. Suitable results may be achieved if thedescribed techniques are performed in a different order, and/or ifcomponents in a described system, architecture, device, or circuit arecombined in a different manner and/or replaced or supplemented by othercomponents or their equivalents. Therefore, the scope of the disclosureis defined not by the detailed description, but by the claims and theirequivalents, and all variations within the scope of the claims and theirequivalents are to be construed as being included in the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A module, comprising: a board; antennas mountedon a first surface of the board configured for transmitting and/orreceiving an RF signal; an RF circuit unit mounted on a second surfaceof the board configured for processing the RF signal; feeding linesconnecting the RF circuit unit and the antennas through the board; aframe disposed on the second surface of the board to enclose the RFcircuit unit, wherein one of the feeding lines comprises a first sectiondisposed parallel to the antennas and a second section disposedperpendicular to the antennas, and an area of the board enclosed by theframe being filled with an epoxy molding compound (EMC) resin forelectromagnetic wave shielding.
 2. The module of claim 1, wherein theantennas comprise any one or any combination of a dipole antenna, amonopole antenna, and a patch antenna.
 3. The module of claim 2, whereinwhen the antennas comprise the patch antenna, the patch antenna isdisposed at an intermediate surface portion closer to a center of thefirst surface than either the dipole antenna or the monopole antenna. 4.The module of claim 1, further comprising an interlayer antenna disposedin the interior of the board.
 5. The module of claim 1, furthercomprising a via antenna disposed adjacent to a side surface of theboard.
 6. The module of claim 5, wherein the via antenna isperpendicular to the first surface.
 7. The module of claim 5, whereinthe via antenna is implemented in consideration of at least one of afrequency, a wavelength, or an interlayer thickness of a Printed CircuitBoard (PCB).
 8. The module of claim 1, wherein the antennas comprise apatch antenna disposed between a monopole antenna and a dipole antenna.9. The module of claim 2, wherein the RF circuit unit has a widthsmaller than a width of the board.
 10. The module of claim 8, wherein ahorizontal distance between the monopole antenna and the dipole antennais greater than a width of the RF circuit unit.
 11. The module of claim4, wherein the interlayer antenna is disposed in a dipole antenna form.12. The module of claim 1, wherein the first section is parallel to thefirst surface and the second section perpendicular the first surface.13. A module, comprising: a board; antennas mounted on a first surfaceof the board configured for transmitting and/or receiving an RF signal;an RF circuit unit mounted on a second surface of the board configuredfor processing the RF signal; and feeding lines connecting the RFcircuit unit and the antennas through the board, wherein one of thefeeding lines comprises a first section disposed parallel to theantennas and a second section disposed perpendicular to the antennas,wherein the antennas comprise any one or any combination of a dipoleantenna, a monopole antenna, and a patch antenna, and wherein inresponse to a number of dipole antennas and monopole antennas exceedinga number of patch antennas, a radiation pattern direction of the RFsignal approaches the lateral direction of the mounting module.
 14. Amodule, comprising: a board; antennas mounted on a first surface of theboard configured for transmitting and/or receiving an RF signal; an RFcircuit unit mounted on a second surface of the board configured forprocessing the RF signal; feeding lines connecting the RF circuit unitand the antennas through the board; and a via antenna disposed adjacentto a side surface of the board, wherein one of the feeding linescomprises a first section disposed parallel to the antennas and a secondsection disposed perpendicular to the antennas, and wherein the viaantenna is disposed in a monopole antenna form in which two vias areconnected to each other in series.
 15. A module, comprising: a boardcomprising a first layer disposed above a second layer; a dipole antennadisposed on the second layer; a patch antenna disposed on the firstlayer; a Radio Frequency (RF) circuit disposed on a lower surface of theboard; and feeding lines connecting the RF circuit to the dipole andpatch antennas through the board, a frame disposed on the lower surfaceof the board to enclose the RF circuit unit, wherein the dipole antennais disposed closer to an outside of the board than the patch antenna,and wherein an area of the board enclosed by the frame is filled with anepoxy molding compound (EMC) resin for electromagnetic wave shielding.16. The module of claim 15, wherein the feeding lines comprise firstfeeding lines connected to the dipole antenna and second feeding linesconnected to the patch antenna.
 17. The module of claim 16, wherein thefeeding lines comprise vias extended to the RF circuit in a verticaldirection.
 18. The module of claim 15, wherein the patch antennacomprises a main-rectangular shape and four sub-rectangular shapessurrounding the main-rectangular shape in a vertical direction view, andwherein a size of each of the four sub-rectangular shapes is smallerthan a size of the main-rectangular shape.
 19. The module of claim 15,wherein the feeding lines are disposed on a layer below the first layer.20. The module of claim 15, wherein the dipole antenna comprises aplurality of dipole antennas disposed along the outside of the board.21. The module of claim 20, wherein the patch antenna comprises aplurality of patch antennas disposed closer to a center of the boardthan the plurality of dipole antennas.
 22. A module, comprising: aboard; a patch antenna disposed on an upper layer of the boardconfigured to transmit and/or receive a Radio Frequency (RF) signal; anRF circuit disposed on a lower surface of the board configured toprocess the RF signal; a frame disposed on the lower surface of theboard to enclose the RF circuit unit; a feeding line connecting the RFcircuit and the patch antenna through the board; and a dipole antennadisposed adjacent to a side surface of the board and below the upperlayer, wherein the feeding line comprises a first section disposedparallel to a plane of the patch antenna and a second section disposedperpendicular to the plane of the patch antenna, and wherein an area ofthe board enclosed by the frame is filled with an epoxy molding compound(EMC) resin for electromagnetic wave shielding.
 23. The module of claim22, wherein the feeding line comprises a first feeding line connected tothe patch antenna and a second feeding line connected to the dipoleantenna.
 24. The module of claim 23, wherein one or more of the firstand second feeding lines comprise a via extended to the RF circuit in avertical direction.
 25. The module of claim 24, wherein the patch anddipole antennas comprise a plurality of patch and dipole antennas,wherein the plurality of dipole antennas are disposed closer to the sidesurface of the board than the plurality of patch antennas, wherein thefirst and second feeding lines comprise a plurality of first and secondfeeding lines connecting the plurality of dipole and patch antennas tothe RF circuit unit, and wherein the via comprises a plurality of vias.26. The module of claim 22, wherein the patch antenna comprises aplurality of patch antennas and the dipole antenna comprises a pluralityof dipole antennas disposed closer to the side surface of the board thanthe plurality of patch antennas.
 27. The module of claim 22, wherein thepatch antenna comprises a main-rectangular shape and foursub-rectangular shapes surrounding the main-rectangular shape in avertical direction view, and wherein a size of each of the foursub-rectangular shapes is smaller than a size of the main-rectangularshape.
 28. The module of claim 22, wherein the dipole antenna comprisesa plurality of dipole antennas disposed along the side surface of theboard.